Effects of storage in ozonised slurry ice on the sensory and microbial quality of sardine (Sardina pilchardus)

The use of slurry ice, both alone and in combination with ozone, as compared with traditional flake ice was investigated as a new refrigeration system for the storage of sardine (Sardina pilchardus). Microbiological, chemical and sensory analyses were carried out throughout a storage period of 22 days. According to sensory analyses, sardine specimens stored in ozonised slurry ice had a shelf life of 19 days, while counterpart batches stored in slurry ice or flake ice had shelf lives of 15 and 8 days, respectively. Storage in ozonised slurry ice led to significantly lower counts of aerobic mesophiles, psychrotrophic bacteria, anaerobes, coliforms, and both lipolytic and proteolytic microorganisms in sardine muscle, and of surface counts of mesophiles and psychrotrophic bacteria in sardine skin as compared with the slurry ice and the flake ice batches. In all cases, the slurry ice batch also exhibited significantly lower microbial counts, both in muscle and skin, than the flake ice batch. Chemical parameters revealed that the use of slurry ice slowed down the formation of TVB-N and TMA-N to a significant extent in comparison with storage in flake ice. A combination of slurry ice with ozone also allowed a better control of pH and TMA-N formation as compared with slurry ice alone. This work demonstrates that the combined use of slurry ice and ozone for the storage of sardine can be recommended to improve the quality and extend the shelf life of this fish species.     

Preparation and Characterization of Antimicrobial Films Based on Chitosan for Active Food Packaging Applications

The aim of this paper was to characterize chitosan samples from the shrimp shells for the later development of antimicrobial active systems. These systems include 100 % chitosan-based films obtained by casting, polyamide films with 5 and 10 % of chitosan obtained by extrusion and polyethylene/polyethylene terephthalate films with a coating of 0.6 % of chitosan. For that purpose, several analytical techniques including IR, ¹H NMR, GPC, and microscopic techniques (scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy) were used. Within the studied samples, C1 showed the lowest DA and MW and consequently presented the most suitable properties for the development of an active packaging. Additionally, mechanical properties were performed. The effectiveness of the developed systems was evaluated by means of microbiological assays. The tested films showed antimicrobial capacity against coliform enterobacteria, mesophilic aerobic microorganism, and yeast and moulds.     

Sensory,microbial and chemical effects of a slurry ice system on horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus)

Slurry ice, a biphasic system consisting of small spherical ice crystals surrounded by seawater, was evaluated in parallel with flake ice for the storage of horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus). Storage in slurry ice led to a significant enhancement of shelf life (5 days for flake ice to 15 days for slurry ice), better control of pH and lower counts of total aerobes and proteolytic and lipolytic bacteria, these reaching an average difference between batches of 2, 1.43 and 1.98 log units respectively after 8 days of storage. Storage in slurry ice also involved a significantly slower formation of total volatile basic nitrogen and trimethylamine after 8 days of storage. Staphylococcus xylosus and Proteus penneri were identified as the leading proteolytic and lipolytic organisms in horse mackerel muscle. Storage of horse mackerel in slurry ice enhances the shelf life of this medium‐fat fish species through better maintenance of sensory and microbiological quality. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Development of new active packaging films coated with natural phenolic compounds to improve the oxidative stability of beef

The aim is to develop active packaging films containing natural antioxidants and to evaluate their capacity to enhance the oxidative stability of beef during refrigeration. The antioxidant activity of a natural extract obtained from a brewery residual waste was evaluated and compared with that of a commercial rosemary extract and two synthetic antioxidants (BHT and propyl gallate). Different concentrations of each antioxidant were also added directly to beef samples, resulting in a reduction in lipid oxidation of up to 70–80% relative to the control. Active antioxidant films coated with PVPP-WS extract reduced lipid oxidation by up to 80%, relative to the control, during cold storage. The use of active packaging films containing natural extracts could improve the oxidative stability of meat products and should therefore be of great interest in the food industry.     

Effect of cyclosporin A on inflammatory cytokine production by human alveolar macrophages

OBJECTIVES: Oromandibular dystonia (OMD) is a focal dystonia manifested by involuntary muscle contractions producing repetitive, patterned mouth, jaw, and tongue movements. Dystonia is usually idiopathic (primary), but in some cases it follows peripheral injury. Peripherally induced cervical and limb dystonia is well recognised, and the aim of this study was to characterise peripherally induced OMD. METHODS: The following inclusion criteria were used for peripherally induced OMD: (1) the onset of the dystonia was within a few days or months (up to 1 year) after the injury; (2) the trauma was well documented by the patient's history or a review of their medical and dental records; and (3) the onset of dystonia was anatomically related to the site of injury (facial and oral). RESULTS: Twenty seven patients were identified in the database with OMD, temporally and anatomically related to prior injury or surgery. No additional precipitant other than trauma could be detected. None of the patients had any litigation pending. The mean age at onset was 50.11 (SD 14.15) (range 23-74) years and there was a 2:1 female preponderance. Mean latency between the initial trauma and the onset of OMD was 65 days (range 1 day-1 year). Ten (37%) patients had some evidence of predisposing factors such as family history of movement disorders, prior exposure to neuroleptic drugs, and associated dystonia affecting other regions or essential tremor. When compared with 21 patients with primary OMD, there was no difference for age at onset, female preponderance, and phenomenology. The frequency of dystonic writer's cramp, spasmodic dysphonia, bruxism, essential tremor, and family history of movement disorder, however, was lower in the post-traumatic group (p<0.05). In both groups the response to botulinum toxin treatment was superior to medical therapy (p<0.005). Surgical intervention for temporomandibular disorders was more frequent in the post-traumatic group and was associated with worsening of dystonia. CONCLUSION: The study indicates that oromandibular-facial trauma, including dental procedures, may precipitate the onset of OMD, especially in predisposed people. Prompt recognition and treatment may prevent further complications.     

Functional Disambiguation Based on Syntactic Structures

This article presents a disambiguation method which diminishesthe functional combinations of the words of a sentence takinginto account the context in which they appear. This processis built in two phases: the first phase is based on the localsyntactic structures of the Spanish language and reaches anaverage yield of 87%. The second one is supported by syntactictree representation and pushes the results up to an approximatehigh end of 96%. This process constitutes the starting pointtowards an automated syntactic analysis.